Mount Olivia

The Mount Olivia Research & Development Center, alternately known as Mount Olivia, Mount O, or the Empty O - was a major pre-War United States Government defense contractor and research center located in Washington County in the northern half of the Green Mountains, in the state of Vermont. It was a branch of the DARPA network of research facilities. In current times, it continues to operate, though in diminished capacity from pre-War levels. Since becoming affiliated with the United Commonwealth, it has also become known as OSI North.

Origins
The Mount Olivia Research & Development Center was originally opened in 2080, built inside a cave system running underneath the large mountain peak that gave it its name. The mountain itself was formerly known as Mount Ellen, but was renamed in honor of the state's first lady governor in 2019. The goal of the facility was to build the future of mankind and create the technologies of tomorrow without restraints, either moral or technical. It welcomed some of the most gifted pre-War scientists, who plumbed the depths of many experimental technological fields. The research conducted within was as groundbreaking as it was unethical, conducted in part on living humans (both American volunteers and Chinese-American detainees). Mount Olivia even included a military prison camp of its very own, where the human test subjects were contained when and if not being engaged in dangerous researches. Its security was overseen by the facility's own force of both officers and robots. Additional protection was provided by the United States Army.

Within its first few years, Mount Olivia quickly surpassed other legendary American research facilities, such as Oak Ridge, Sandia, and Fort Detrick. It became the premier facility in the DARPA network.

Due to a failed experiment conducted in the advanced systems research center in 2090, Mount Olivia itself was vaporized, leaving behind a giant crater and exposing the facility. This catastrophe did not faze the researchers, however, and efforts in pushing the boundaries of science continued unabated. The new land exposed by the explosion was adapted for scientific purposes - new facilities were established, both above and below ground, including an artillery firing station and test town for weapons experiments.

The facility operated during its active years under the guidance of five gifted executives - Doctors Abramov, Barlow, Dala, Klein, and Mandus. A sixth, Doctor Zeller, was invited to join the executive team in 2086 as its youngest member (being only 32 at the time). Collectively, they were known as the "Think Tank". The facility gave birth to a bewildering array of new and advanced technologies, such as Saturnite alloy, next generation hazmat suits, new models of cyberdogs, stealth suits, holograms, and much more. At the same time, however, many new horrors were also born in the laboratories of Mount Olivia - cazadores, night stalkers, mutagenic plants, ambulatory corpses, previously unknown toxins, and other fearsome creations. Certain non-military technologies were regularly sold to private parties in exchange for favors. In 2087, the owner of the Stowe Park Resort in Vermont obtained various experimental technologies (including the prototype matter conversion machines) in return for allowing Mount Olivia to use the resort as a proving ground, a decision that backfired catastrophically when the experimental technologies turned on the casino inhabitants. Such an event was not unprecedented however, as the town of Hopeville, New Hampshire was wiped off the map by a disastrous meteorological experiment in another such exchange in 2089, later becoming known as the Divide.

Great War Aftermath
When the Great War came in 2093, it did not stop the research efforts, it merely put them on a different rail. Zeller continued to pursue advanced chemical studies. Mandus studied advanced genetic medicine techniques while Dala worked on more advanced surgery methods. Barlow studied weaponized sound waves. Klein and Abramov pursued further developments in robotics. A new project was also initiated with the purpose of preserving the "Think Tank" executives by putting their physical bodies into long-term suspended animation while connecting their minds to special machinery that allowed them to control special mobile bots, allowing them to continue their work at Mount Olivia indefinitely. Their bodies were secured in the stasis pods and locked within a heavily secured section of the Dome and protected by powerful defenses. With nobody to stand in the way, their research continued, becoming more debauched as the years went by.

Eventually, the remaining human staff dispersed or were killed by the increasingly out-of-control complex, such as when the cazadores and night stalkers escaped their containment facility. By 2095, only the Think Tank remained in Mount Olivia. During 2097, in a fit of paranoid trepidation towards outside influence, and believing "the world unprepared for their kind of too-far-thing-taking" the Think Tank erected a radar fence - a radar-guided repulsive field - around the perimeter of Mount Olivia to limit outside intrusion.

Mount Olivia has had few visitors post-War - the sheer size of the crater served as its best camouflage. Most have come to believe that the ragged edges of the crater are the result of a massive nuclear detonation, and avoid the general area altogether. Those unfortunates who wander in disappear forever, apprehended by the facility's robot guardians and lobotomized by the Think Tank to act as organic automata, maintaining the decaying facility and protecting it against scavengers. Over the years, it has become known in the region as the "Empty O," a place where nothing exists. Its size and the aura of mystery surrounding it have fed many fearsome rumors, and as a result Mount Olivia has become a sort of "forbidden zone". Traders and caravan groups take great pains to avoid passing too close, and this has prevented the establishment of shorter trade and caravan routes between the burgeoning Commonwealth and settlements in eastern Canada. Instead, established travel routes arc over into Maine or Vermont, to give the infamous site a wide berth. To modern times, it is common knowledge among traveling merchants and regular folk alike to avoid the Empty O region at all costs.

Re-Discovery
In the early years of the Commonwealth, limited military resources had restricted the ability of the Peacekeepers to act upon reports of repeated disappearances in the Mount Olivia area, and so in 2371 the Mount Olivia Perimeter Patrol was established. An invisible perimeter, ten miles distant from the outer rim of the Olivia crater itself, had been set up and was monitored by fire teams of soldiers who would warn travelers passing through to avoid straying too close to the infamous Empty O. As time went on, little serious effort was made to correct the issue, as years of rumor, strange happenings, and unexplained sightings in the area had discouraged local military units from investigating any unusual happenings more thoroughly, instead sticking to the perimeter patrol and going no closer.

Actual rediscovery of the Mount Olivia research complex was not accomplished until mid-year in 2444, when a rifle infantry company of the Peacekeepers entered the the area in response to reports of a caravan, expected in New Worcester out of Quebec, that had not arrived and was reported missing by the caravan company it was a part of. It had last been reported just east of the Olivia crater, and had been carrying two diplomats on their way to the Commonwealth capital. Concerned about outside interference, the dispatched company was told to investigate and enter the previously forbidden area if necessary. After a patrol near the edge of the crater, the company commander decided to take his unit inside, having sighted unusual activity.

It wasn't long after entering the area the infantry company discovered a sprawling complex of buildings, instead of devastation. They found a section of the radar fence open, allowing them entry, where they were met by a robot through which the Think Tank observed and spoke to them. After a brief exchange, the company senior officer realized he was speaking with scientists, and sent a runner back to their base to retrieve the Aquilius researcher attached to the unit as a technical officer. Once she arrived, she was able to speak more closely to what the Think Tank did. Ultimately, she succeeded in securing the release of the lost caravan.

In later talks with a team of specialists sent by Aquilius, the Think Tank - who were released from their statis pods - learned a great deal of the post-War world, in turn granting the UC scientists extensive interviews that were all recorded and transcribed. An arrangement was made whereby the UC would offer Mount Olivia military protection in exchange for the Think Tank dedicating its efforts to supporting the Commonwealth as it sought to restore civilization, one piece at a time.

Layout
Mount Olivia is dominated by the Dome at its center, which is connected to outlying facilities by numerous walkways, pipes, and conduits.

In its northern sector lies the northern rail line, which eventually splits into two lines that run toward the east and west tunnels. Near the north tunnel is the robotic warfare facility. Other notable facilities include the Signal Hills broadcast station, the advanced systems research center, the botanical gardens, and the meteorological station. Just north of the western train tunnel is the military prison camp.

In the eastern quadrant, following along the eastern rail spur, one finds the programming research center, the artillery test zone, the robotics plant, the hazmat testing ground, the genetics research facility, the bioengineering center, and the waste disposal station.

The western quadrant of the crater is dominated by the Hexcrete archipelago, a collection of hexagonal concrete structures that vary in size from small platforms to towering monoliths. Among the hexcrete structures are several facilities, including the weapons testing facility, the innovative toxins plant, the lightwave dynamics research facility, the materials research facility, and the artillery launch station.

In the southern quadrant of the crater is Higgs Village, which contains the domiciles of the bulk of the facility staff within a large, hangar-like structure. It is flanked by the satellite array and medical research facility.

Below ground, underneath the network of buildings, lies what is called simply the Mount Olivia Works. This network of tunnels and machine rooms contains generators, power distribution systems, pumps and other machinery that continues to operate, maintaining the facilities above in spite of the decades that have passed. A small legion of robots maintains these aged systems, plodding onward unaware of the devastation of the planet above.